KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 — Malaysia went into its first lockdown two years ago. Since that first time, there have been a few more.
Our photographers took pictures of what was happening during the various lockdowns, reopenings and everything in between.
But which were the pictures that touched them the most? The scenes that stood out for them.
Here Choo Choy May (with the help of reporter Ida Lim) tells us why these three pictures moved her the most:
Testing, testing...
This picture of a child going through the painful process of a Covid-19 swab test at the Selangor state government’s free Covid-19 screening programme at the MBPJ community hall in Taman Medan was taken on May 24, 2021.
During this free screening programme, residents in Taman Medan queued for hours to get tested — mothers with children, senior citizens and working adults.
When I see babies and toddlers suffering during these tests, that makes my heart ache.
Where did everybody go?
Akleh Highway (sandwiched between KLCC and Kampung Baru area) on a weekday evening during the movement control order (MCO) in Kuala Lumpur on April 8, 2020.
I have never seen KL this empty before, not even during Raya (when people leave KL for their hometowns).
I took this picture from a block of flats nearby. At first it felt eerie, because everyone was just staying at home due to the MCO; I was walking alone in the parking lot, in the lift, even along the corridors.
It was very empty and very quiet, but seeing residents sometimes peeping at me from their windows or coming out to the corridor for a quick smoke was comforting.
Trapped in your own neighbourhood
Residents of a house within the enhanced movement control order (EMCO) zone in Petaling Jaya Old Town asked passersby to buy chilli for them, as they were not allowed to go out and the food distributed to them had no chilli.
This picture was taken on May 13, 2020
I remembered this funny scene. This house was near the barbed wire fencing encircling the EMCO zone; they were shouting to everybody passing by to help them buy chilli padi.
You know Malaysians and their chilli, some people cannot eat anything without chilli, I could feel their desperation. But we couldn’t help them because they were in the barbed wire zone.
